Folding apparatus.



Pat ented Feb. l9, l90l.

R. C. SEYMOUR. FOLDING APPARATUS.

AnPlieniou flhd se e. 29, 1900.!

2 Shoots-Shoot I.

(I0 Iodel.)

Tm: aims Pznzns do, PNOTO-LITHO.. WASNINGTON o c A No. 668,394. Patentedmm. 1901.

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FOLDING APPARATUS.

[Appliufion filed Sept. 29, 1900 (lo Iodel.) 2 Sheets-Shut 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH C. SEYMOUR, OF SOUTH ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO C. B.COTTRELL & SONS COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND STONINGTON,

CONNECTICUT.

FOLDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 668,394, dated February19, 1901. Application filed September 29, 1900. Serial No. 31, l90. KNOmodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, RALPH C. SEYMOUR, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of South Orange, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in FoldingApparatus,of which the following is a specification, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings.

The principal elements of a folding appa- IO ratus embodying thisinvention are a support upon which the sheet to be folded is placed. andin which is an opening for the passage of the sheet as it is folded, astationary blade presented endwise opposite said opening,

and reciprocating grippingjaws operating through said opening to firstcrease the sheet over the edge of said blade in the intended line offold and to afterward complete the folding of the so-creased sheet bydrawing it from said blade and through said opening.

Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings represent in elevation,partly sectional, such parts of a folding-machine as are necessary toillustrate my invention, Fig. l repre- 2 5 senting the grippers in theact of creasing the sheet over the edge of the stationary blade, andFig. 2 representing the grippers as having completed the folding andliberated the folded sheet. Fig. 3 is a detail view which 0 will behereinafter explained.

a a designate parts of the stationary framing of the apparatus.

b is the support on which the sheet is deposited by any suitable meansto be folded,

5 said support being represented as a stationary slotted table. Thistable is or may be such as is well known in folding apparatus, andtherefore needs no particular description.

0 is the stationary blade, which is arranged 4o perpendicularly to thetable I), with its edge slightly above the face of the latter and opposite to and parallel with the slot 5 therein. The said blade isrepresented as attached to a stock d, which is bolted to the framing cta.

e e are the gripping-jaws or grippers, of which there may be anysuitable number of pairs, according to the length of the fold to be madeor to other requirements, the two members of each pair being pivotedtogether by a pivot f, by which they are attached to a reciprocatingcarrier g, (represented as a straight bar g,) which is fitted to work infixed upright guides h on the framing below the table I). The jaws ofthese grippers, which are formed at the upper ends of the pivotedmembers and the lips of which are rounded or tapered, are locatedopposite to the blade 0 and the slot 5 in the table and are thin enoughto pass through said slot 5, as shown in Fig. 1, when closed. The tailsor lower ends of said gripper members have applied to them springs e'j,which exert a constant tendency to close their jaws automatically, asshown in Figs. 1 and 3, the spring t having its abutment directlyagainst the carrier g, and the spring j having its abutment against alight bracket it, which is aflixed to and virtually a part of saidcarrier. These springs are best illustrated in Fig. 3, which representsa transverse section of the carrierbar g and a side View of one pair ofgrippers with said springs and with adj usting-screws Z, which serve toadjust the jaws of the grippers relatively to the plane in which theblade 0 is located, so that when said jaws are closed their mouth orentrance will be exactly opposite the edge of the blade 0. The saidscrews Z are, as shown in Fig. 3, pivoted one to each of the tails ofthe gripper members and pass one through the carrier-bar g and the otherthrough the bracket is on said bar. They also pass through the springsij, so that they do not interfere with the opening of the grippers. Thesaid screws are fitted, outside of the bar g and the bracket it, withstop-nuts m m, by the adjustment of which on the said screws the closingposition of each gripperjaw can be properly adjusted to the blade 0.

The carrier-bar g derives its reciprocating motion in the guides h froma crank-wrist n, carried by a disk 0 on a shaft 19, to which rotarymotion is given by any suitable means, the said crank-wrist beingconnected with the bar by a rod q. At a suitable distance below thefolding-table there is attached to the framing a stationary wedge-shapedcam r, against the opposite faces of which the tailpieces of the grippermembers are brought,

as'shown in Fig. 2, by the downward movement of the carrier-bar in suchmanner as to produce the opening of the grippers.

The operation of the folding is as follows: A sheet 3 having beendeposited on the table I) while the grippers in a closed condition havebeen depressed below the latter, the upward movement of the bar takesthe lips of the gripper-jaws through the slot 5 in the table on oppositesides of the blade 0 and causes said jaws to so press the sheet upwardagainst the edge of the knife as to first crease it over said edge andthen to be opened automatically by the upward pressure sufficiently totake between themselves and the knife portions of the sheet on oppositesides of the crease, as shown in Fig. 1, wherein the grippers arerepresented as having terminated their upward movement and justcommencing their downward movement, by which as they pass from the bladethey are caused to take the creased sheetwith them and draw it throughthe slot 5 of the table, thereby con1- pleting the fold. After havingthus completed the fold the downward movement is continued far enough tobring the tail ends of the gripper members far enough over thestationary cam r to produce the opening of the jaws, as shown in Fig.:2, and the liberation of the folded sheet, which may be removed by anysuitable means out of the way of the grippers, which after theliberation of one folded sheet ascend with the bar g to crease, take,and fold another sheet, being automatically closed by the springs assoon as their tail ends have been carried upward clear of the cam 'r.

The means for removing the folded sheets after their liberation from'thegrippers may be of any known or suitable kind-as, for example, ahorizontally-moving packer i, working through the bottom of a receivingbox or table it, upon which the sheets drop edgewise from the grippers.This packer is represented as sliding on a stationaryguide-rod o andoperated by a cam 10 on the shaft 13 through a lever 03, which works ona fulcrum y and is connected with said packer.

That the folding-blade c is stationary and that in making the crease itis entirely independent of the slotted table or sheet-support are veryimportant features of this folding apparatus, as they not only insurethe accuracy of the fold, but permit the folding offreshly-printedsheetswithoutsmutting. The stationary blade neverdescending below the face of the sheet cannot disturb it by drawing itone way or the other and so causing the diversion of the folding-creasefrom the desired line. Then the grippers in forcing the sheet up aroundthe stationary edge of the folding blade, as shown in Fig. l, to producethe crease or commencement of the fold over said edge, raise the undersurface of the sheet from the edges of the table-slot and so tend toprevent such hard rubbing of said surface against the said edges whilethe sheetis passing between them as to produce smutting. The sheethaving been thus raised up from the table by the grippers around theedge of the stationary blade remains more free from the edges of thetable-slot during the drawing of the fold through said slot than it doesin folding apparatus in which the creasing and folding is performed bythe folding-blade driving the paper through the slot and in which thepaper is caused to hug or drag on the edges of the slot, and thisfreedom tends to prevent or reduce the tendency to smut, which is commonwith such folding apparatus.

It is obvious that the folding devices herein described may fold at thesame time a plurality of superposed sheets or a sheet which has beenpreviously folded and is presented in two or more thicknesses to suchdevices.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In folding apparatus, thecombination of a stationary blade and reciprocating grippers forcreasing the sheet over the edge of said blade preparatory to the foldin g,substantially as herein described.

2. In folding apparatus, the combination of a stationary blade andreciprocating springclosed grippers for creasing the sheet over the edgeof said blade preparatory to folding,substantially as herein described.

3. The combination of a support for the sheet to be folded having anopening for the passage of the sheet, a blade presented edgewiseopposite said opening in stationary relation to said support, andreciprocating grippers operating through said opening first to creasethe sheet upon said blade and afterward to draw it therefrom throughsaid opening in a folded condition, substantially as herein described.

4. In folding apparatus, the combination of a table having a slottherein, a stationary blade presented edgewise opposite said slot at theface of the table and reciprocating grippers operating through said slotto crease and grip the sheet upon said blade and draw it therefromthrough said slot in a folded condition, substantially as hereindescribed.

5. In a folding apparatus, the combination of a table having a slottherein, a stationary blade presented edgewise opposite said slot at theface of the table, reciprocating springclosed grippers operating throughsaid slot to crease and grip the sheet upon said blade and draw ittherefrom through said slot in a folded condition, and means for openingsaid grippers to liberate the folded sheet, substantially as hereindescribed.

6. In folding apparatus, the combination of a stationary blade, areciprocating grippercarrier, a pair of gripping members pivoted to eachother and to said carrier, and separate springs one for each grippingmember applied between said member and the carrier IIO for closing thejaws of such members, substantially as herein described.

7. In folding apparatus, the combination of a stationary blade, areciprocating grippercarrier, a pair of gripping members pivoted to eachother and to said carrier, and adjusting-screws one for each grippermember applied to said carrier for separately adj Listing the twomembers of the pair to the plane of the said blade, substantially asherein described.

8. In folding apparatus, the combination of a table having a slottherein, a stationary blade presented edgewise opposite said slot, acarrier and attached spring-closed grippers ence of two witnesses,this27th day of September, 1900.

RALPH C. SEYMOUR.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, HENRY THIEME.

